Death Note: Alternate
by DuskFairie
Summary: "We have no idea who he is, and we have no way to catch him. Maybe he doesn't see us as a real threat. After all, L was our best hope. Without him, we're just a couple of rogue's trying to solve what's practically an unsolvable case. Even the governments too scared to dig any deeper. But all we can do is try. If no one else is going to stand up to a murderer, then we will." AU


"Kira's started to kill innocent people-"

"International sources are saying that-"

"I just found him. He was lying on the floor. Not even breathing. I checked, I checked, and on his chest... there was so much blood. But I could see it, straight away-"

Light flicked the television off. It had been three months since Kira had made his presence known to the world. A week since he had started murdering innocents. He had hijacked several of the stations, at first Sakura TV, and then proclaimed himself to be a God; one that would cleanse this world.

_'Cleanse this world,'_ Light thought._ 'Yeah, right. Only a deranged person could ever consider that that's what they were doing.'_ He ran a hand through his hair, and glanced back at his homework. Although he felt like there was hardly any point; he could be dead tomorrow, within a few hours, seconds even. Kira's killing patterns were striking out it seemed at random, none of the murders had anything to do with the other. Light had been keeping track of them through logging into his dad's police account on the shared home network. The criminals - all but three - had suffered heart attacks. The people that Kira had killed who had committed no crimes were disposed of in a similar way, bar one difference; a 'K' carved into their chest, apparently, in every circumstance, by their own doing. _'Honestly, what kind of person would-?'_

"Light?" His sister's voice drew his gaze from his books and towards the door. She was standing there leaning against it; arms folded and pouting. "I thought you said that you would help me in a minute with my homework?"

"I will Sayu," He replied, shutting his book, however leaving his index finger jammed in-between the pages like he were keen to get back to it. "I'm still going to, just try and-"

"Argh, that was an hour ago. If you don't want to help me why can't you just say?"

"I do want to help you! I just lost track of time."

"Okay, whatever." She replied flatly, "Mum said that tea's ready too."

Light nodded, trying not to roll his eyes at how much of a typical teenager his younger sister was turning into. "Alright, fine. I'll be there in a second,_ then_ I'll come and help you. I promise."

Sayu did roll her eyes, and walked away leaving Light staring at the empty space, before he turned around and packed up his things quickly into his school bag for tomorrow. His finals were coming up soon. But nobody else was studying. There was no point really, when people were loosing family and friends with each day that passed. Everyone had come to live in fear. Nothing was a certainty; life wasn't a certainty.

"Damn L, why did he have to be stupid enough to give himself away in a broadcast like that? Now that he's gone, who have the people got to turn to? There's no hope for any of us." He muttered under his breath, throwing his bag into a corner, and running a hand again through his hair, a habit he had developed lately, he noticed, when he started feeling more stressed. For the first time in ages, he cursed under his breath, and walked out of the room to join his family for dinner.

* * *

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* * *

"Matsuda?!"

"Y-yes?"

"Your thought's on the Kira case?"

The younger officer blinked, pushing a mess of dark brown hair out of his face. Funny, he hadn't remembered blanking out at his desk, but it wasn't unusual. He and the other man who had disrupted him hadn't left the station in three days. He eyed the half-empty takeaway coffee sitting near his elbow and sighed as he realized that it would now probably be stone cold.

"He's started murdering innocent people." He replied slowly, trying to make his mind wake up and think analytically. "It's like a switch just flicked in his brain, he's not satisfied only killing criminals anymore. Maybe he just wants to create fear and chaos. But as to why," Matsuda shrugged. "I don't really know. But, I think that I need to microwave this coffee. Do you think it would be alright if I-"

The other man, a short tempered officer named Aizawa, slammed his hands down onto the desk enough to make Matsuda jump. "No! Now will you stop trying to skirt around the subject, and answer some questions straight forwardly? We won't be able to catch him if we think like this; 'Oh, this is what Kira's doing now, but we don't know why.' The Chief has taken two hours off so that he can be at home with his family, and when he comes back the only thing that we would have achieved is heating up a beverage that will only turn your brain into more mush than it was before. So, I'll ask you again, what are your thought's on the Kira case?"

"I really..." Matsuda let out another short sigh, and lowered his gaze. "I really, don't know Aizawa-san. I don't know what's going on anymore." The young officer brought the cold coffee to his lips, gulping it down regretfully, then placed it back down. "Okay," He said, with re-kindled resolve. "If we were Kira, what would we be trying to do?"

Aizawa stared at him for a moment, before asking; "What?"

"If we were Kira... see, at the beginning we thought that he was punishing criminals. Then when L came in, he suggested that Kira thought of himself as a God, passing judgement. But now that he's gone it's like Kira just went nuts and started killing whoever he wanted. Maybe there was a link between L and Kira, or maybe there's something that he's trying to do. He's got our attention, he's got a lot of people who are afraid, but what was the point in killing all of those criminals before? What was the point in killing L?"

"L was in his way..."

"But so are we!" Matsuda protested. "Why isn't he trying to kill us?!"

Aizawa paused thoughtfully, "We have no idea who he is, and we have no way to catch him. Maybe he doesn't see us as a real threat. After all, L was our best hope. Without him, we're just a couple of rogue's trying to solve what's practically an unsolvable case. Even the governments too scared to dig any deeper. But all we can do is try. If no one else is going to stand up to a murderer, then we will." His head turned as he heard the door creak open behind them, and smiled weakly as Soichiro entered the room. "Evening again, Chief."

"Evening Aizawa," The man removed his coat slowly, his joints aching from lack of sleep. "I see that you've managed to down another coffee. Other than that, is there any other progress on the case?"

"None."

"No..."

"I see." He paced over tiredly to the other side of the room, towards his computer.

"How's the family?" Aizawa asked. It had been a while since he had even seen his own; a wife and young daughter.

"They're alright. Sayu seems upset, and I can tell that Sachiko is getting more worried by the day. Light seems to be his usual self, although maybe a little more short tempered."

Matsuda's posture straightened immediately. "Light? You mean that kid who helped us with the double suicide case in Shibuya?"

Soichiro raised an eyebrow. Though Light was seventeen, turning eighteen in only a few months, it still felt strange to hear him being referred to as a 'kid'. He had the maturity and intelligence surpassing that of most people, he supposed.

"Yes. What are you suggesting?" He didn't like where this was going, in fact the idea had occurred to him earlier on, he just hadn't wanted to voice it. Especially after what had happened to the last person who they considered capable of challenging Kira.

"We could get him to help us," Matsuda said. "I know that he's your son, but he was a really huge help before! I wouldn't be surprised if he could pick up on something that we've missed. This could be a chance to-"

"Matsuda!" Aizawa cut in, giving him a sharp look. "Don't you think that he's already thought of that? The Chief obviously just doesn't want to put his own family in danger. No offense intended of course,"

Soichiro sighed. "None taken. But the truth is that now we could all be dead tomorrow. Who knows. He's killed at least another thirty just in the time that I've been gone. Besides, Light's already asked to help, I just wouldn't allow it."

"What? But Chief!"

"Matsuda!" The other short tempered officer shouted once more. Matsuda slumped back down onto the desk, burying his face into his arms. "Man, why does there have to be a mass murderer like this on the loose in my lifetime?"

There was an awkward pause, then Soichiro cleared his throat reluctantly. "Very well, I'll ask him. It's not much use if it's just the three of us, and maybe I'm also being selfish. By not allowing him to help then I could be putting other people's lives and families in danger."

Matsuda shot up again, "R-really? With Light here we could actually solve this!"

"Don't get your hopes up Matsuda," Aizawa cut in, hitting him over the head with a report. "And stop acting like an immature school girl."

"Immature school girl?!" The other man shot back, standing up heatedly. "Just what are you trying to imply?!"

"Oh, so you're awake now?" Aizawa mused, walking away to sit back behind his desk.

"Of course I'm awake! How could I not be awake after you-?!"

"Good. Then get back to work."

"Oh..." The young officer sat back down in his seat, blinking, before he slumped over again, and picked up a file that he'd been in the middle of studying before, holding it so that it was right up to his face; the words blurring in front of his eyes.

_'Greetings world,_

_This, is Kira. _

_Too long has it been since I sent out a message last.'_

_Too long has it been that those who create and spread evil in this world have been properly punished._

_I am here to be your voice._

_I am here to be your hope._

_In times like these, I am here to pass righteous judgement on those who instill oppression and fear._

_Abandon your governments. Look to me. _

_For I am more than a man. I am the justice that burns in all of you._

_Goodnight.'_

"Yeah. That was before you decided to kill innocents," Matsuda mumbled bitterly as he read the dialogue of the broadcast that Kira had made just before L's death. How had someone who had fought for 'justice' vision become so skewed? He sighed, reaching a hand up to toy with his now empty coffee cup.

* * *

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_A/N. こんにちは！It's been a long time since I've posted on here. There was some stuff that happened in my life, namely our house got burnt down, so I haven't been able to log on for a while. I explained it a little in my profile, but basically, this is a new story that I'm publishing. I'll be continuing 'A Beautiful Nightmare' soon, but not my other fic (. .). ごめんあさい... あの, I hope that you like this story, it won't be edited as much as my other one though; this is like a side-project. There are no 'pairings', but hints of shounen-ai, and maybe special moments between a certain character's later on ;) Many thanks for reading C: ~DF_


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